I feel like I am breaking some sort of rule by not blogging the CNN shitshow fail parade from whatever 200 person samizdat in New Hampshire that is hosting the clown car pileup tonight, but I gotta tell you, my heart is just not in it yet. I tried, I really did. I had a glass of wine, Lily on the lap, Rosie was chewing her everlasting toy, and I turned it on and about 12 seconds of Bachmann’s crazy eyes telling me that the tea party is mainly Democrats and that was it- I was out of there. I switched and watched the hockey game.

I tried, but I have to face facts- I had a really good day. I got a lot of gardening done, got the sink unclogged in the basement, the house looks good, I got some work work done, the dogs and I went on a long walk several times, I had a good dinner, and I just could not waste two hours of my life listening to those idiots. It is just too early. I swear I will muster the stamina to detail the exploits of these fools in detail when it gets closer to the actual primaries, but it just ain’t happening now.

I’ll throw up some open threads for these debacles, but if you are looking for commentary on these various idiots and their public pronouncements, see me in six months. Maybe someone else here has the energy to suffer through it, but not this white boy.

*** Update ***

If someone could please explain how Fred Karger is a “stunt” candidate and Herman Cain is a “serious” candidate, I would be thrilled to know.

https://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpg00John Colehttps://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpgJohn Cole2011-06-13 22:38:142011-06-13 23:41:14You Say Coke, I say Caine, You Say John, I Say Wayne, I Don't Wanna Be the President of America

Maybe it’s the summer weather, but I’m right there with ya. Just can’t summon up the interest level to pay attention to the crazies for any amount of time. I think it’s also because of the clown car effect: that much crazy in one place at one time means for me that I don’t want to have to waste my attention until they narrow it down to two or three crazies.

I missed it thanks to gas weed eating 350 feet of alley down both sides and a good chunk of the center. Then putting really rude soil sterilizer on it. Then cutting the locust tree out that the neighbors let grow.

Pissed off. I’ve put about 60 yds of crushed rock on the damn thing over the years, rented backhoes @$250 each time several times to spread, grade, plow the damned thing and I’ve only got 50 feet of frontage on it. I have 6 neighbors on the damn thing and they can’t even manage to cut the edges down. Shit. Bet every one of them is GOPer.

chmann’s crazy eyes telling me that the tea party is mainly Democrats and that was it-

Seriously? For me these debates are like the Oscars or SNL. I can’t sit through the whole mess, and if there are any good parts somebody will throw it on to the intertubes. I do want to see that bit about Mitt daring Pawlenty to repeat something. Based on what I’m reading about the debate, I may have to adjust my predictions about Pawlenty/Rubio

An endless series of fart jokes would suffice as commentary for debates such as these. While the 2008 Republican field may have been pathetic by most standards, it was a gathering of statesmen and philosophers in comparison with this year’s assortment of freaks, clowns, and grifters. They’re all Alan Keyes now.

My husband was finally naturalised last week. I’ll have to keep him away from these Republican debates lest he take to sniffing glue in his despair.

I don’t know why anybody in their right mind WOULD watch this freak parade, or ANY of its spawn, from now until election day 2012. There is nothing to be gained, and plenty of neurological and cardiovascular functioning to be lost.

I watched a small stint of the debate, and it was good for a couple laughs. Mostly just rehydrated right wing gibberish, but these days the more pure rendering of that gibberish without so much disguise. It will be a somewhat chilling process to watch, the wingnuts out crazying each other, with the main message that white republicans are cool Americans, and all the rest can suck an egg. And yet they begin and end no matter what, with a guarantee of 45 percent of the vote just due to the R beside their name. CNN is going to do a Tea Party one of these in September which ought to be a hoot and likely good for 8 to 10 points pickup for dems in that electorate.

Good for you, John. I was going to watch but instead went to see the friends’ 4-day old, worked a bit in the garden, had an ok meal with spouse and kidlings. Oddly enough, I don’t feel like I missed much.

Teach your dog to chew on a conservative. There seems to be enough of them to be everlasting and if the flesh is as thick as the brain each on should last a long time. And on the real plus plus side we get rid of a conservative on a regular basis.
Downsides.
Your dog will probably be too smart to chew on anything that will make it irrevocably stupid.
Can’t imagine the taste is attractive, even to an animal that will eat shit.
Medically the dog may not survive.
And the number one downside of course would be this would surly be cruelty to animals.

I only see ONE clown in the clown car. So, what does it have to do with tonight’s debate?

Need more clowns.

Edit: What is really scary about the clown car pic is that the car seems to be making progress down the road, NOT smashed into a ditch. Sign of things to come? The gazillion percent accuracy of spooky premonitions embodied in Balloon Juice pics at the top of the post is a little discussed phenomenon, but it is there in front of your eyes.

Someone asked me the other day if Mitt is elected will he asked to be sworn in on the Bible or the Book or Mormon. I hadn’t really thought about it until then, but I assume the Book or Mormon. And that’s just fine with me, but is this something the right will just not care about because it’s one of their guys? I cannot imagine the commotion that would have been aroused if Obama had used anything, including the Book of Mormon, other than a bible.

Now, maybe I’m missing something, given that I didn’t actually watch the debate. But given how republicans like to piss off Democrats wouldn’t the thought that the Tea Party is mostly democrats make the conservatives want to do the exact opposite of anything the Tea Party wants. And wouldn’t the Republicans want to kick them out of the party as fast as possible since they seem to be invading and adding alot more crazy than the party has ever admitted to before (anyone pretending it wasn’t always there is stupider than Bachmann and Palin’s brain dead love clone).

It’s odd, because this early in the last election cycle, I did follow things, eagerly. But two and a half years of teabagger background noise to the world have caused more burnout than the Bushies did. No matter what they say here, we’ve heard it all before, unless they’re trying to outdo each other with Newer and Better Shit, and either way, there’s nothing there to watch.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.
__
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills.
__
They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.
__
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things.
__
For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be “the largest theft of funds in national history.”

It’s sort of interesting that we learned part of our nation-building techniques from Colombian drug lords’ methods of transferring narco-profits development aid.

And by the way, I don’t think this shit was ‘stolen’.

It was fucking walking around money and skimmed and embezzled and stuffed into duffle bags and used for bribery and such.

Well, I mean not ‘stolen’ as in ‘gosh, we have no idea where it all went!’

And we’re going to hear from a bunch of shit-brains who think that the fact that this money supposedly came from Iraqi oil sales and UN Oil for Food programs and seized assets makes it all different, right? So it didn’t cost ‘us’ nothing, right?

Because this money isn’t fungible; of course the US didn’t kick in any replacement funds to cover the now ‘missing’ funds, because it wouldn’t, and also SHUT UP.

We’re a bunch of dumbasses who think that if you remember what the US did 30 years ago throughout Central America and Southern Africa and Afghanistan and our special non-traceable cash funding programs and ‘looking the other way’ when our narco-warlord thugs happened to bring back goods on our own cargo planes, you’re some sort of conspiracy theorist.

@JenJen: Sloppy ice and Luongo in LaLa land. How else can it be explained? Unless Boston is placing some evil spell on Vancouver. Evil vibes coming from some event in New Hampshire probably explains Game 6.

Santorum, however, broke from most of the other contenders by backing the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy barring openly gay military personnel.

I take it that means Ricky wants the military to waste its time trying to uncover closeted gay service members, but the first time I read it I for a second thought Santorum had done a 180 on the issue. Then I remember who that asshole was and parsed the sentence correctly.

I could not watch the debate. The very idea that one of those people could be the next president was just too horrific.

So, I read the wrap up on Talkingpointsmemo, hands over my eyes, peeping my fingers.

Mighty MN TPaw could not confront Multiple Choice Mitt with the Obamney Care line? Damn, you mean his action super hero advertisements were fiction, not reality? Those amazing gutsy action scenes were just MADE UP!? I am crushed. (Edit: it is worse that when I learned about the true personal history of John Wayne.)

Romney, the serious grown up daddy BUSINESS MAN, cannot answer what would happen if the US goes into an actual (versus the current technical) default?

And those are the two ‘serious’ candidates.

Let’s hope Newt can recover, since he will be fun, and cannot win the election.

@Katie5: I mean, isn’t it insane? And with temps in the 60’s in Boston today, Vancouver lost their slushy-ice excuse. I can’t even put all the blame on Luongo either (2 shutouts in Vancouver!); every time they hit the ice in Boston the Vancouver defense falls apart. And Sami Salo is truly gifted at screening his own fucking goalie.

Wow. Well, let’s just hope Game 7 is good, or at least close. Buck the Fruins! (Disclaimer: I’m a rabid Habs fan, hence the Boston-hate.)

ETA: I read an interview earlier today with Kevin Bieksa (I think) where he said that in this final series you spend two weeks playing the same guys, and so you have plenty of time to get your hate all built up. It’s not just me!

@PurpleGirl: it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The party in power more or less selects when the election happens, that is, when it’s most advantageous to get re-elected. You vote for the party and not the people; hence you get candidates with no connection to the community.

It is cheaper, though. US presidential campaigns must be so expensive now that they’re a not-insignificant contribution to US GDP.

Maybe if Jimmy Carter hadn’t use the CRA to force banks to give houses to ACORN, none of this would have happened.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has targeted Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, in a new probe that questions the validity of potentially thousands of mortgage securities and their associated foreclosures, two people familiar with the matter said.
__
The investigation, which began quietly in recent weeks, is part of a larger inquiry that is scrutinizing whether mortgage companies and Wall Street firms took the necessary steps under New York state law when creating mortgage-backed securities, these people said, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the probe…
__
…”If mortgages were not properly transferred in the securitization process, then mortgage-backed securities would in fact not be backed by any mortgages whatsoever,” Adam J. Levitin, a bankruptcy expert and professor at Georgetown University Law Center, said at a House panel last November.
__
Levitin said the problem could “cloud title to nearly every property in the United States” and could lead to trillions of dollars in losses.
__
The six largest U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Goldman and Morgan, currently hold nearly $668 billion in so-called Tier 1 capital, cash banks are required to hold as a backstop against unforeseen losses, Federal Reserve data as of March 31 show.
__
All six companies are defined as “well capitalized” by federal bank regulators. Schneiderman’s inquiry also raises questions about the speed the Obama administration and a coalition of state attorneys general and bank regulators are moving towards a settlement agreement to resolve claims of widespread foreclosure abuse.

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
APPELLATE DIVISION : SECOND JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT…
__
[*1]Bank of New York, etc., respondent V Stephen Silverberg, et al., appellants, et al., defendants.
__
LEVENTHAL, J.This matter involves the enforcement of the rules that govern real property and whether such rules should be bent to accommodate a system that has taken on a life of its own.
__
The issue presented on this appeal is whether a party has standing to commence a foreclosure action when that party’s assignor — in this case, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (hereinafter MERS)– was listed in the underlying mortgage instruments as a nominee and mortgagee for the purpose of recording, but was never the actual holder or assignee of the underlying notes.
__We answer this question in the negative.

I think we just need to hope this can be tiptoes around forever, and just crumble more slowly apart than some sort of calamitous tumble.

It was fucking walking around money and skimmed and embezzled and stuffed into duffle bags and used for bribery and such.
___
Well, I mean not ‘stolen’ as in ‘gosh, we have no idea where it all went!’

About two years into the Iraq debacle, the Bead Society of Greater New York had a presentation from an officer with the Army Civilian Relations office (not sure of exact unit name). Anyway he described the way they kept open pallets of cash in the office and that they took money to any meeting with a local leader. They kept no logs of the the amount and who they gave the money to, no accounting was done. They just took some money on the way out the door. Yeah the money went down a rabbit hole.

(The officer was thanking the Bead Society for beads we had donated to a program which worked with young girls; the beads were for making jewelry with them.)

Remember the commotion when Rep. Keith Ellison took the oath of office with his hand on a copy of the Qaran?

That would be the “ceremonial” for-photos oath of office, as opposed to the real one, that he and every congresscritter else took with their hands in the air … which he then took using Thomas Jefferson’s copy of a translation of the Quran, that the Library of Congress gladly loaned out to him. A bunch of presidents haven’t used a bible: Teddy Roosevelt was one of them. And the option to affirm has been in the US Constitution from day one for a reason.

The whole “swear on the Book of 19th-Century Bible Pastiche” thing is a side-issue, because, as Atrios and others have noted, there is in fact a big denominational stew that has existed for as long as the USA has existed, and the media and Village attempts to homogenize it into Universal Jebusitarianism is bullshit.

A California appeals court handed MERScorp, the operator of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, another legal victory by ruling MERS can launch foreclosure procedures even when it lacks possession of a promissory note.
__
In its Ferguson v. Avelo Mortgage verdict, the California Second District Court of Appeals refused to accept the plaintiff’s assertion that MERS as nominee of lender lacked possession of the original promissory note. Ferguson argued MERS could not foreclose if it did not hold the note.

IANAL but it seems like this might have to head to Clarence Thomas to decide.

Obviously I’d guess that this view would prevail if it becomes necessary to resolve this generally.

@Katie5: Oh, but it sounds so nice and we go through so much crazy stuff for so long. And yes, it is expensive, the people in the know are saying that Obama will need on the order of $1 billion for the next campaign.

But alas! This has been a 180 degree series – each road team shuts down. I think the edge is with Boston, though, since each Canuck victory has been a squeaker, and the Bruins have blown them out three times. 4th time for the Cup!

The Tea Party is mostly Democrats huh? Then why is it that they all ran as Republicans in actual elections?

As far as I can tell, this is one of those bits of BS where the TPers loudly declare that they’re bipartisan in hopes of reigniting the pundits’ love affair with them. They all know it’s BS, but they’re so convinced that they’re cleverer than the LIE-bruls and DUMB-ocrats that they can just wink at each other and no one will catch on, no matter that they always vote Republican and no candidate is ever conservative enough for them.

@slag: Digby did’t point that out explicitly; but then I grokked the point immediately without thinking I needed it — just like all the times in 2008 where some bullshit comment was portrayed as some serious insult or gaffe. “Bitter.”

@Urza:
No, I’ve heard this one before. What they’re suggesting is that the Tea Party is a huge grass roots flood of American voters who used to be Democrats but got fed up and became Republicans because (insert claim about Obama here).

It’s another attempt to convince the Tea Party that they’re Special, and the media that they’re Important.

Cain is black, and the GOP is not allowed to exclude him on that basis. They are required by custom to allow him to demonstrate his lack of fitness for elected office, on television. Fred is gay, and their very brand is based on excluding him…from the 4th, 10th and 14th amendments, let alone party primary debates. It’s their creed.

I wonder whether they fear letting the gay dude talk because he will make sense to GOP voters, thus negating the organizing principle of the party, or whether they would be unable to repress their lust for Fred if he were free to stimulate them with his…ideas.

both cases you cited are from their state’s (CA and NY) intermediate level appellate courts. Mortgage foreclosure is purely a matter of state law. Those decisions can be reversed by the highest courts of those states, but Thomas et al ain’t gonna get their grimy paws on them.

(Mormon) Church members officially regard the Book of Mormon as the “most correct” book of scripture, in that “a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book.”[86] This is, in part, because church members believe the Bible was the result of a multiple-step translation process and the Book of Mormon was not.

The whole “swear on the Book of 19th-Century Bible Pastiche” thing is a side-issue, because, as Atrios and others have noted, there is in fact a big denominational stew that has existed for as long as the USA has existed, and the media and Village attempts to homogenize it into Universal Jebusitarianism is bullshit.

Whenever some idiot decides to post the Ten Commandments in a public place where they don’t belong, I always hope that a Roman Catholic will sue because they used the wrong version.

@Yutsano: Considering the way Luongo has performed at his home barn this series (allowing only 2 goals in 3 games, while collecting 2 shutouts), I think Vancouver fans should have a little confidence when the series returns to the most beautiful city in North America on Wednesday.

I’m kind of thinking out loud here, just trying to talk myself off the ledge. I have a feeling you feel me here. :-) Game 6 blew.

@JenJen: TBTH, I wanted a Game 7. A competition like this should be as hard fought as possible. But oh man is it gonna be sweet times up north if Lord Stanley’s tableware goes up north of me for a year! I plan to make a pilgrimage if they display it for a spell. Should be an easy weekend and a good excuse to dust off the passport. :)

I was born and raised a Bruins fan. Still am, even in Sharks territory (I adopted the boys in black and teal and the playoffs drive me nuts accordingly until one is knocked out). The Canucks finished off my Sharks and they’re playing the Bruins. Down with Vancouver!

@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff): Joseph Smith translated the bible into Mormonese, so it is pretty safe to assume Romney would use that to avoid controversy. We are talking about Romney, after all. He would swear allegiance to the script of the first Star Trek movie if that was what polled the best with his followers.

Herman Cain got 10% of the Republican primary vote in an actual poll by CNN, a semi-respectable organization. Here’s Nate’s post where he mentions that. The previous post does some footwork with poll standings divided by name recognition.

Absolutely, it is way too early for these idiots. I can’t believe that Nate saw the whole thing if he wasn’t being paid to do so.

You might then say, “But Trump was a joke and he got more in the polls than that”. Different definition of joke, and I’m not sure it’s being applied to Fred Karger because you would have to know something about him for that. Trump was not a joke in the sense that actual people, including my mother-in-law, might at one time have voted for him.

I was surprised that Romney actually admitted that the recession started before Obama took office. Of course, that didn’t stop him from blaming Obama, and naturally, he didn’t mention that the repubs have been obstructing every attempt to improve the economy.

I watched the entire thing and I still can’t tell Santorum and Pawlenty apart.

Comments are closed.

Get Involved!

It takes just 5 minutes, twice a week:

Make a call
Send an email
Send a postcard or fax
Make your voice heard!

For both local and national numbers, recommended scripts and approaches: